my sweet grandmother passed away in may. it was a welcome relief from her misery of having parkinsons and being confined to a bed for the last 6 years. that being said... its still a little sad to say goodbye. i miss her.
having grown up just down the street from my grandma i always felt as though we were very close. spending every sunday afternoon at their house, many shopping trips with she and my mom... always made me feel so special and close with grandma.
she was born in kanaraville, ut. even though her parents were living in las vegas at the time, her mother had gone home to kanaraville to have the baby. my grandma was always upset about that since she loves nevada so much and could never claim to be a true native of nevada. she was also lucky enough to be born on nevada day... which to the rest of the US is just called halloween.
my cousin aprils husband paul is currently an assembly man for nevada and was able to get this really cool decree made in honor of grandma that basically states since she was so loyal to nevada and had such great love for the state she now has her own official day and will be known as a true navadan...
grandma's father was an artist and music teacher at the las vegas high school and when he got very sick she took over leading the choir while she was still in high school herself. she was also incredibly beautiful. i always love looking of pictures of her in high school as she just looked so classy all the time.
she was certainly cute when my grandpa saw her. she had been dating another boy... i believe his name was john... but vern stole her away... and if you ask him SHE is the one who proposed to him.... they were talking one day and she said are you going to propose to me or not cause john is coming back to town and i need to know what to tell him. grandpa got a ring and while driving in his car threw the ring in her lap and said there ya go kid, what do ya think? haha! it was the beginning of a great marriage!!
they always did have a fun relationship. grandpa called her dorkis, and teased her constantly. but she took it like a champ and often gave it right back. he was romantic in his own way... if he brought home some jewelry for her for an anniversary or anything he would just throw it on her dinner plate and say here you go. she was also very supportive of whatever business grandpa was into at the time. he always worked hard and had something new he was brewing up. and she stood by him.
they had 5 kids together. but when joan the youngest was little grandpa had a heart attack and grandma decided she needed to go back to college and get a degree so if anything ever happend to vern she could take care of the family. she got her degree in elementary education and taught 25 years till she retired. she was a great teacher and i know students loved her. here was a board a student made about her...
we the grandkids also loved that she was a teacher as it meant she was forever correcting our grammar... may i, not can i... its jack and i not me and jack. but i have those things burned in my memory and probably speak with more proper english because of her.
my parents went out of town for a week once when i was little. i believe third grade. they went to boston and i went and stayed with grandma. my mom planned it perfectly as i had some nevada history project to do so grandma helped me make this beautiful mobile.... filled with also sorts of facts and artifacts about nevada that she knew. perfect person to help me with that.
grandma was fun. she smiled a lot and laughed. at our anual christmas eve party we would all get together and sing songs and do twelve days of christmas with actions. grandma loved to sing! she new so man songs and always knew the words to everything. my favorite memory i will always cherish is learning "when its night time in nevada i'm dreaming" she and my mom and i would sing that sitting by the bonfire in beaver at night. she taught me to sing the harmony with it. even when she was in her bed these last couple years and could hardly make words she could almost always sing with us... and you better believe she still knew the words to anything.
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| four calling birds |
grandma also had the greatest nails. long hard nails that grew beautifully! she would sit at the counter top and file them perfectly and t paint them so perfectly... usually with like a duty rose color... like a rose/tan ish color. always liked having her nails done. very sad i didn't inherit those nice nails. she also always had her hair and make up done... including lipstick.. usually peach. she taught my mom to be the same way in i have learned it from my mom.... generally wont see me with out hair and makeup done. she did always like to tell us grand daughters we would look better with a touch of lipstick.
she loved us grandkids. i couldnt have asked for a more loving grandmother. she always had a cookie jar full of mothers taffy cookies. and on sundays for our family bbqs she would bring out brownies and vanilla ice cream. still one of my favorite desserts.
she also went to anything i ever did. every dance recital, birthday, probably band concerts. she went with my mom to so many things.
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| really neat 4 generations with great-grandma rowe, grandma, my mom, and emily |
here are some more fun pictures of grandma that i wanted to share
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| vacuuming in her white suit.. classy! |
love this one of she katie and i...
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| fun one of she and my dad laughing at something... thats the grandma smile i love and miss!!!! |
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